St Austell Brewery has agreed to a major deal with Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm to continue selling the popular Cornish Rattler Cyder in its pubs for the next five years.

An advocator of local sourcing, St Austell Brewery gave Cornish Rattler its first break in 2004 when they agreed to stock the cyder in many of its 168 pubs. The five year deal with Cornish Rattler is a strong commitment towards long term local sourcing and a positive step in driving forward the local economy by working with and supporting local businesses.

The cloudy cyder proved a hit with St Austell Brewery customers leading to Cornish Rattler’s official launch last year to more than 500 free trade pubs supplied by St Austell Brewery across the South West. In the 12 months since then, Cornish Rattler sales have doubled and across the region the cyder has sold more than one million pints, stimulating a significant growth in production at the Cyder Farm in Penhallow near Truro to keep up with demand.

James Staughton, Managing Director of St Austell Brewery, and Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm owner David Healey raised a glass to the new deal which formalises the close working relationship between their businesses.

James Staughton said: “It’s great for two Cornish businesses to be working together on what is a fantastic local success story. We’re delighted with the role St Austell Brewery plays in helping Cornish Rattler on its road to success from putting the draught cider into kegs through to distributing Rattler to our own pubs and to free trade customers. We are proud to be continuing our support for it.

“Cornish Rattler has proved popular with visitors and locals alike and shows the demand for local produce which is there and which we have worked hard to promote through our Cornish ales and the locally-sourced food served in our pubs.”

David Healey said: “The association with St Austell Brewery has enabled us to grow our business substantially over the past four years by reaching the many hundreds of pubs St Austell Brewery supplies in the South West. Cornish Rattler is proving to be a very popular drink and we are delighted to see it on the bar in pubs across the region.

“The five year deal puts us in an enviable position as it now secures a position for Cornish Rattler as the cyder of choice in St Austell Brewery pubs.”

Cornish Rattler gets its name from an old fashioned variety of Cornish apples which were grown in the Truro area. At 6% ABV Cornish Rattler has quite a bite; the cloudy, sparkling cyder has a clean and fruity taste that provides a refreshing apple burst.

St Austell Brewery has scored a major coup in being selected by Marks and Spencer to brew a new beer to be sold in its stores.

Cornish IPA is part of a new range of regional beers being launched by Marks and Spencer and will be sold in stores across the south of England, from Cornwall to London, starting this week.

The 5% ABV bottle conditioned ale has been given the thumbs up from the Campaign for Real Ale and is brewed using Cornish spring water and locally-grown barley to produce a premium IPA, with a refreshing, full flavour that makes it an ideal summer drink.

Roger Ryman, St Austell Brewery’s Head Brewer, said he was delighted that Marks and Spencer chose St Austell Brewery to create a new beer offering their customers in the South a true taste of Cornwall.

He said: “We’ve very much enjoyed working with Marks and Spencer to develop Cornish IPA and I’m really pleased with the result – it’s a modern, high quality and distinctive beer with a lot of dry hop character.

“We put a huge effort into ensuring a consistently high level of quality in all our ales and we’re very proud to have the St Austell Brewery name, alongside that of one of the UK’s most respected brands, on bottles of the new Cornish IPA.”

The first bottling run of 20,000 bottles of Cornish IPA took place at the end of May, with the bottles – designed around a nautical theme – scheduled to appear on shelves in Marks and Spencer stores from the this week.

Sue Daniels Marks & Spencer Beer expert comments: “Marks & Spencer are delighted to be working with St Austell Brewery, who have specially crafted this particularly fine IPA for us.

“The history of the Brewery and the quality of the beer is a perfect fit for our bottle conditioned beer range which we introduced last August as part of our drive to raise the profile of regional products. We have been delighted with customer reaction, who really seem to appreciate being able to buy these local beers.”

The deal with Marks and Spencer comes as the popularity of St Austell Brewery’s flagship Tribute Ale continues to soar, with the huge success regionally and nationally of Tribute placing it for the first time in the top 20 of the UK’s bestselling cask ales.

Tribute was the highest new entry – and the only Devon or Cornwall-brewed ale – to feature in the annual Brands Report 2008, published by The Publican in April, which ranks the top 200 drinks brands sold in UK pubs based on annual sales. Overall, Tribute was ranked in the 100-110 category for the UK’s most popular drinks brands.